red wine
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 9,029
My cholesterol went up after I quit drinking too. My doctor who knows I'm an alcoholic advised me on diet and exercise first. If that doesn't work, then medication. I like my doctor.
Sometimes we have to be our own advocates. Or educate doctors and nurses. I still remember my former mother in law putting butter on a burn. Ouch. Cool, clean water or ice. So just because your doctor suggested, doesn't mean we should blindly follow if it's not in our best interests. And wine for an alcoholic is certainly not in our best interest
Sometimes we have to be our own advocates. Or educate doctors and nurses. I still remember my former mother in law putting butter on a burn. Ouch. Cool, clean water or ice. So just because your doctor suggested, doesn't mean we should blindly follow if it's not in our best interests. And wine for an alcoholic is certainly not in our best interest
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Midwest U.S.
Posts: 1,049
It always amazes me that doctors have no clue about addiction, didn't they learn about this as part of general medical education?
I had the same issue, my doctor had been my general physician for 20 years and even though I told him I was in outpatient treatment and had issues with alcohol, he still only said that I should not drink more than one glass of red wine a week.
What? If I have one then I want a hundred more...why don't they understand this?
I had the same issue, my doctor had been my general physician for 20 years and even though I told him I was in outpatient treatment and had issues with alcohol, he still only said that I should not drink more than one glass of red wine a week.
What? If I have one then I want a hundred more...why don't they understand this?
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 174
I'm basically just repeating what everybody else on here has said but....
Good lord this person got through basically 8 years of schooling plus residency and gave you that advice?? Seriously, this doctor sucks. I know a lot of doctors, in fact my father, sister and brother-in-law are all doctors. And they would never, ever give this dogsh*t pile of advice.
Honestly, is your doctor drunk or something? That advice is insane. It's 2015, alcoholism and addiction isn't some bizarre, fringe theory. Alcoholism alone kills almost 45,000 people a year - and this does not count related causes like drunk driving or violent crime where alcohol plays a role. Furthermore it plays a huge factor in long term damage to the vital organs.
Clearly... I'm having sort of a stressed out night
. Maybe I need to meditate or something, lol. But really, that's horrible, horrible advice and I'm sorry he gave it to you and I honestly think you need to get rid of him because he sucks at his job.
Good lord this person got through basically 8 years of schooling plus residency and gave you that advice?? Seriously, this doctor sucks. I know a lot of doctors, in fact my father, sister and brother-in-law are all doctors. And they would never, ever give this dogsh*t pile of advice.
Honestly, is your doctor drunk or something? That advice is insane. It's 2015, alcoholism and addiction isn't some bizarre, fringe theory. Alcoholism alone kills almost 45,000 people a year - and this does not count related causes like drunk driving or violent crime where alcohol plays a role. Furthermore it plays a huge factor in long term damage to the vital organs.
Clearly... I'm having sort of a stressed out night
. Maybe I need to meditate or something, lol. But really, that's horrible, horrible advice and I'm sorry he gave it to you and I honestly think you need to get rid of him because he sucks at his job.
EndGame
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
Until very recently, most physicians-in-training received no training in addictions unless they pursued it on their own. Couple that with the reality that a majority of physicians would prefer not to treat people with addictions (there is research on this), and you have a situation in which many physicians remain as ignorant to the treatment of addictions and what it means to work towards sobriety as the general public.
In some cases, doctors have learned through their practice or their personal experience at least a surface understanding of what addiction means, but they're rarely on top of things in ways that people who struggle with addictions are. This is largely true for people whose professional expertise would shield them from patients who struggle with addictions, and those who simply refer them to someone else when a patient presents with an addiction problem as their primary concern. Working far from a large metropolitan area also leaves many physicians without experience with addictions.
@Ruby: As many of us know, the butter thing when it comes to minor burns is an old wives' tale and, as such, has not died a quick or easy death. Most butter contains salt, and you're actually cooking the burn when you apply butter to it. Again, as long as people in the medical field are not specifically trained to know that this is a harmful "remedy," then they've got no way to know this since using butter to treat minor burns (with or without butter) is a trivial part of their training. And I don't know that there was anything like a bulletin to alert health care professionals that this not the best treatment for minor burns.
In this day and age, I doubt that many parents would use whiskey to relieve the pain from a toothache with their children, but there were entire generations who perceived this as a harmless remedy.
So Toni, it would be a good thing were you to check in.
In some cases, doctors have learned through their practice or their personal experience at least a surface understanding of what addiction means, but they're rarely on top of things in ways that people who struggle with addictions are. This is largely true for people whose professional expertise would shield them from patients who struggle with addictions, and those who simply refer them to someone else when a patient presents with an addiction problem as their primary concern. Working far from a large metropolitan area also leaves many physicians without experience with addictions.
@Ruby: As many of us know, the butter thing when it comes to minor burns is an old wives' tale and, as such, has not died a quick or easy death. Most butter contains salt, and you're actually cooking the burn when you apply butter to it. Again, as long as people in the medical field are not specifically trained to know that this is a harmful "remedy," then they've got no way to know this since using butter to treat minor burns (with or without butter) is a trivial part of their training. And I don't know that there was anything like a bulletin to alert health care professionals that this not the best treatment for minor burns.
In this day and age, I doubt that many parents would use whiskey to relieve the pain from a toothache with their children, but there were entire generations who perceived this as a harmless remedy.
So Toni, it would be a good thing were you to check in.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
Toni, I totally get why most posters suggest that you find a new doctor who understands. However, I am also very familiar with the (lack of) training aspect EndGame mentioned above and how that can lead to not the best choices of treatment in specific cases. This, plus the fact that even if a professional receives the best and most extensive training in a particular area, if they never had first hand experience with the issue, it will always limit their understanding. (Well this is why peer support works so well.) Obviously, this is especially true for mental health issues where any visible sign and physical symptom is far from the whole picture of what goes on internally. And often finding a good doctor or other helping professional is not the easiest thing... So my suggestion is that if you are otherwise satisfied with this doctor and how he treats you, maybe educate him in more depth about your alcoholism and how it works for you.
A somewhat related experience for me was with my therapist. Without going into details, he has extensive experience with addicts but I had to talk with him lots about my own personal pattern, fears and dangers. Because originally he suggested to me an approach to work through my obsessive tendencies using what he then perceived as safe(er) approach (than a substance problem), via addressing my obsessiveness using our therapeutic relationship. And I totally got this and agreed with him, but needed to give him lots of information about myself to adjust the method in such a way that would be truly safe for me at that particular time. Because some things are very strongly and intimately intertwined in my mind now, based on my history, and what might seem like a harmless little thing to experiment with for one person might trigger a harmful domino effect for me. But no way I would have wanted to run away or abandon him because in so many ways I think he is as good for me as it can probably get at least in the current phase of my life and in the context of stuff I most want to work on. So much prefer to provide as much information as possible to get the most out of the treatment. It's all about interaction, discussing everything, including their treatment suggestions. I do similar things with physicians all the time.
A somewhat related experience for me was with my therapist. Without going into details, he has extensive experience with addicts but I had to talk with him lots about my own personal pattern, fears and dangers. Because originally he suggested to me an approach to work through my obsessive tendencies using what he then perceived as safe(er) approach (than a substance problem), via addressing my obsessiveness using our therapeutic relationship. And I totally got this and agreed with him, but needed to give him lots of information about myself to adjust the method in such a way that would be truly safe for me at that particular time. Because some things are very strongly and intimately intertwined in my mind now, based on my history, and what might seem like a harmless little thing to experiment with for one person might trigger a harmful domino effect for me. But no way I would have wanted to run away or abandon him because in so many ways I think he is as good for me as it can probably get at least in the current phase of my life and in the context of stuff I most want to work on. So much prefer to provide as much information as possible to get the most out of the treatment. It's all about interaction, discussing everything, including their treatment suggestions. I do similar things with physicians all the time.
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